Thesis (M.Sc. Agriculture (Agricultural Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / The Land Restitution Programme was designed to assist farmers through support for infrastructure, marketing, finance and extension services. This initiative was intended to support job creation, food security and support agricultural growth. Nevertheless, poverty and food insecurity have profound implications for health and welfare. However, household dietary diversity score has long been recognized by nutritionists as a key element of high-quality diets. This study examined the effects of the land restitution on households’ food security in Waterberg district. The objectives of this study were to profile households’ socioeconomic/ demographic characteristics, assess the food security status of land restitution beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, examine the effects of Land Restitution Programme on food security and investigate the challenges faced by smallholder farmers in accessing land and other inputs for agricultural purposes in Waterberg district. Primary data was collected from 110 smallholder farmers using purposive and random sampling techniques. Dietary diversity score was used to assess the food security status of land restitution beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries while logistic regression model was used to examine the effect of Land Restitution Programme on their food security status. The results of dietary diversity score revealed that 70% of the households were food secure while 30% of the households are food insecure. The age of the household head, access to the market and land size were found to be positively significant at 10% level while beneficiary status was found to be positively related to food security status and significant at 5% level. Variables which were found positively significant at 1% level are gender of the household head, off-farm income and access to credit. Problems affecting households differs from lack of access to credit facilities to lack of grazing land. Based on the findings the study recommends prioritisation of women agricultural projects; diversification of income; provision of smallholder credit facilities in rural areas and provision land to farmers so that they increase their production which give them an advantage to become food secure. Key words: Dietary diversity, logit model, food security and Land restitution.

Vehicle ownership and utilization have a profound influence on activity-travel patterns of individuals, vehicle emissions, fuel consumption, highway capacity, congestion and traffic safety. The influence could be further skewed by the diversity of the vehicle fleet. This thesis presents a detailed analysis of the 2001 National Household Travel Survey data to understand the vehicle ownership patterns, fleet mix, allocation and utilization in the context of household and person socio-demographic characteristics. Along with a rich descriptive analysis, models of vehicle ownership and utilization are estimated to distinguish four vehicle types; cars, SUVs (sport utility vehicles), vans and pickup trucks based on their ownership by households and utilization patterns by household members. The primary driver level vehicle utilization analysis provides insights into the extent of allocation of a vehicle to a single person. In addition to confirming many perceptions about the ownership, acquisition and utilization patterns of different types of vehicles, this analysis brings out some subtle differences and similarities among the vehicle types. The analysis results indicate a greater propensity to acquire and use larger vehicles such as minivans, sports utility vehicles and pickup trucks among certain socio-demographic segments of population. Increased ownership and use of vans and SUVs, and their usage as personal vehicles rather than just work vehicles warrants a need to revise vehicle type specific policies, transportation planning and control measures.

房屋市場的投資與一般商品最大不同之處在於,投資金額非常龐大且投資期間很長.在投資期間內,業者必須面對許多政治及景氣等不確定因素而增加了公司的經營風險,假使業者能掌握購屋者的習性與偏好提供適合的房屋,如此業者不僅能降低經營風險,且能在最短時間內與購屋者,發生交換行為達到銷售目標;對購屋者而言,也能減少許多搜尋成本而找到適宜的房屋.而業者對來訪客戶多有做一簡單基本調查,訪談結果這些資料皆沒有善加利用,形成資源浪費. 因此本研究擬在有限資源下,首度以個案研究方式利用真實購買房屋客戶資料及參觀個案客戶資料,應用普查時的長短間卷概念,先對客戶基本資料進行分析並對個案進行探討,再針對需要另外設計一份長問卷,藉由長短問卷的搭配來瞭解客戶的需求與偏好. 經由因素分析.信度檢定.集群分析.區別分析.多重變異數分析及多重比較檢定.t-test.影響因素排序及購屋者機率分析等相關統計分析後,發現原來業者所使用的客戶基本資料,並沒辦法有效的掌握客戶的需求與偏好,因此業者有必要對現行使用問卷做一修正,另外在用數種區隔基礎後亦可看出不同族群的習性其結果也顯示,一般購屋者在購買房屋最注重的是環境因素及價格因素而最不注重業者相關因素.

近年來台灣地區製造業廠商工廠停工家數極速增加，已有步入西方先進國家產業衰退之現象，探究影響工廠停工之因素相當多，本研究以台灣地區製造業廠商為研究對象，分析影響工廠停工之屬性及其空間分佈。首先，本研究整理相關理論及文獻，再者分析台灣地區已辦竣工廠登記廠商之基本屬性，以此為基礎設計Logit模型進行測試，同時因產業所屬產業生命週期階段之不同，影響其工廠停工之屬性及空間分佈理論上亦相異，故本研究採用二項主要判別指標及一項參考指標，進行產業所屬生命週期之劃分，再以不同產業生命週期廠商為樣本分別進行模型測試。本研究試圖找出影響台灣地區製造業廠商工廠停工屬性及其空間分佈。獲致結論如下： 　　一、在屬性方面，「廠商年齡」變數在所有模型測試結果皆得到顯著負向結果；「工廠登記年代」變數與「廠商年齡」變數得到相同之結果；「工廠廠房總面積」變數僅在多位置廠商工廠停工模型測試中得到顯著結果，其影響為負向，意即，對於多位置廠商而言，其工廠廠房總面積愈大者，停工機率愈低。以上所得結論皆與理論相符。 　　二、在空間分佈方面，對於全體製造業廠商而言，「都會區」、「都市計畫工業區」、以及「編定工業區」三項變數對工廠停工之影響皆為正向顯著，影響程度由高至低依序為：「都會區」、「編定工業區」、「都市計畫工業區」。對多位置廠商而言，「都會區」以及「編定工業區」二項變數對停工之影響皆為正向顯著，而影響程度「編定工業區」高於「都會區」。對於產業生命週期各階段廠商而言，「都會區」及「編定工業區」變數影響最大者皆為成長期產業，「都市計畫工業區」變數影響最大者為成熟期產業。對於電子產業生命週期各階段廠商而言，有顯著結果之「都會區」及「編定工業區」二項變數，影響最大者皆為電子產業成長期廠商。

本研究之構想來自於「特徵價格理論」，又可稱為Hedonic模型法和效用估價法，該理論認為土地是由眾多不同特徵所構成的，而土地的價格也就決定於這些土地特徵。故如能將各土地的特徵分解並加以分析，應能找出各因素的隱含價格，並以此推斷該土地的合理價格。本研究利用國有財產局北區辦事處網站上所提供之土地標售案為樣本，加入土地之公告現值和信義房屋房價指數等變數，並將樣本依其特性區分為台北縣市、金融海嘯前後期和不同行政區等不同的模型，以Logit迴歸模型和線性迴歸模型，分別探討影響土地標出和其價格的因素。 以Logit迴歸模型分析後的結果發現，在金融海嘯之前投資人會考量該筆土地的縣市別和地面建物，金融海嘯之後則轉為考量土地的底價和公告現值。唯一在金融海嘯前後持續會影響投標人意願的因素是信義房屋房價指數，其對於投標人的投標意願有正向影響。而在縣市別的區分下，對於台北市的土地投標人會考量建物、面積和房價指數；對於台北縣的土地則是注重公告現值。對於大安區和中正區的土地，投資人同樣會考量土地上是否有建物，除此之外，對於中正區的土地投標人還會參考當時的房價指數再決定是否投標。 本研究另以線性迴歸模型分析影響土地標售價格之因素。研究結果發現，在金融海嘯前，土地的底價、房價指數和縣市別三個變數都會顯著影響標售價格。而在金融海嘯後，投標人則改為關注土地面積和公告現值，但和金融海嘯前一樣，土地所在的縣市別依然會影響標售價格。以行政區劃分時，不論是台北縣或台北市的土地，土地的底價和公告現值都會顯著影響其標售價格。另台北市的土地，其標售價會隨建物和房價指數增加；台北縣的土地則顯著受面積影響。中正區的土地標售價隨建物、面積和底價增加，大安區的土地則只有底價影響顯著。

This dissertation comprises three essays in public finance. The first essay is a research of a theory of trading of club goods and its application to jurisdiction. The essay establishes a model of trading of club goods among clubs, and illustrates its effects on the process and outcome of club formation. Cost function as well as disutility of crowdedness is emphasized and integrated into the process of club formation, after allowing for exchanging club good among clubs. In the process, the essay develops a market for club goods. Then the model is revised and applied to the formation of jurisdictions. The second essay comes out of an interest regarding household demand, poverty and public goods in developing countries. The essay explores household food consumption in Jamaica and estimates the effects of related variables. With Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions 2001 data, the essay estimates an Engel curve which reflects the relation between household food consumption and related variables. What’s more, to investigate the possible neighborhood effect on food consumption, the essay tests and estimates the spatial correlation among neighborhood food consumption. The estimated results can be applied to poverty reduction policy. The third essay extends the theme of poverty, consumption, and government programs by analyzing one other public program—education. Education is closely linked to poverty alleviation. Determining the demand for education and the return to education will help government focus programs aimed at reducing drop-out rates and in the long run, poverty in the country. The essay applies discrete time survival analysis techniques to analyze education duration in Jamaica. Based on Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions 2002, the essay estimates the effects of household, individual and other related covariates on dropout risks of students. The essay compares discrete time Cox model and discrete time logit model and concludes that the two estimations are consistent. The estimation results could be used to predict the effects of changes in the covariates, or be used to predict the dropout risks of particular students in each grade, both of which could provide useful policy implications to improve education in Jamaica.

Esta tesis consiste en una serie de estudios empíricos sobre la industria de los ordenadores personales basados en datos de 8 países americanos (Argentina, Brasil, Canadá, Chile, Colombia, Estados Unidos, México y Perú) entre 2005 y 2007, y se compone de 3 capítulos. En el primer capítulo se analizan estadísticamente las principales características de esta industria. El segundo capítulo aporta una visión panorámica del escenario competitivo, ofrece una estimación de la demanda y del poder de mercado por grupos de empresa, e interpreta la lógica económica de los cambios observados en Latinoamérica a raíz del proceso de migración hacia la portabilidad. El tercer capítulo representa una contribución a la literatura sobre el análisis retrospectivo de las fusiones. En él se estudia el impacto sobre precios del anuncio y la fusión Acer – Gateway, ocurridos durante 2007 y que permitió a estas firmas convertirse en el tercer proveedor mundial de ordenadores personales. / This dissertation consists of empirical studies on the industry of personal computers (PCs). These studies are based on quarterly data for the period 2005-2007 from eight countries of the Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the US, Mexico, and Peru. The dissertation is organized in three chapters. The first chapter presents a statistical summary of the main features of the PC industry. The second chapter offers an outlook of the PC industry (with special emphasis on the competitive structure), an estimation of both the demand for PCs and the firms’ market power, and a discussion of the changes caused by the PC portability phenomenon. The third chapter contributes to the literature on the retrospective study of mergers and acquisitions by analyzing the 2007 acquisition of the US computer hardware company Gateway by the Taiwan-based international computer company Acer, which created the third largest PC maker in the world.

This dissertation aims to contribute to the field of economics of competition policy by analyzing the demand structure and the market power in the Turkish beverage industry and in the cola market in particular. First, a demand system for the beverage products has been estimated by using a multi-stage linearized Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS). Using the own-price elasticity of cola in a SSNIP test (Small but Significant Non-Transitory Increase in Price), it is shown that cola market consists of a distinct relevant product market. Then, the demand elasticities of cola products at brand and package level have been estimated by the simple and nested logit models. Finally, the estimated demand elasticities of cola products have been used in measuring the degree of market power and predicting the effects of a hypothetical merger between Pepsi and Cola Turca by using a merger simulation technique. The results show that all cola suppliers have large price-cost margins for most of their products. Prices of the merging parties increase in average by 15 - 21% after the merger. The merger also causes the market price to increase by 16- 22% and consumer surplus to decrease by nearly 5% in average. Finally, depending on these results, the thesis recommends a stricter merger control criterion than dominance criterion for competition policy in Turkey.

國內發行REITs已逾一段時間，但卻缺乏發行後實際投資需求研究，然而為了促進REITs產業的穩定發展，有必要了解投資人的投資意願及考量因素為何，故本文延續翁偉翔、張金鶚、陳明吉(2003)之潛在需求研究，再次利用問卷調查方式，並建立二項式Logit模型進行實證，研究投資人對REITs的投資意願及投資考量因素。 實證結果發現，發行REITs後，一般投資者對REITs的相關資訊愈充分，且認為「分散風險」愈重要，及投資人屬性中投資金額愈大，投資工具數愈多，及投資經驗年期愈長，購買REITs機率愈大；法人投資者則認為「流動性」愈重要，及資金規模愈大與投資工具數愈多者，購買REITs機率愈大。在預期未來購買REITs與否，一般投資者預期未來對房地產景氣預期愈樂觀時，愈肯定REITs「小額投資不動產」特性，且具有投資REITs經驗的投資人，預期未來購買REITs機率愈高，但投資經驗年期愈長的投資人，則預期未來購買REITs機率愈低；法人投資者預期未來購買REITs與否，則將「分散風險」與「流動性」兩者皆視為主要投資考量因素。

Understanding joint and causal relationships among multiple endogenous variables has been of much interest to researchers in the field of activity and travel behavior modeling. Structural equation models have been widely developed for modeling and analyzing the causal relationships among travel time, activity duration, car ownership, trip frequency and activity frequency. In the model, travel time and activity duration are treated as continuous variables, while car ownership, trip frequency and activity frequency as ordered discrete variables. However, many endogenous variables of interest in travel behavior are not continuous or ordered discrete but unordered discrete in nature, such as mode choice, destination choice, trip chaining pattern and time-of-day choice (it can be classified into a few categories such as AM peak, midday, PM peak and off-peak). A modeling methodology with involvement of unordered discrete variables is highly desired for better understanding the causal relationships among these variables. Under this background, the proposed dissertation study will be dedicated into seeking an appropriate modeling methodology which aids in identifying the causal relationships among activity and travel variables including unordered discrete variables. In this dissertation, the proposed modeling methodologies are applied for modeling the causal relationship between three pairs of endogenous variables: trip chaining pattern vs. mode choice, activity timing vs. duration and trip departure time vs.mode choice. The data used for modeling analysis is extracted from Swiss Travel Microcensus 2000. Such models provide us with rigorous criteria in selecting a reasonable application sequence of sub-models in the activity-based travel demand model system.